How can I maximize user interaction with my widget?

Widget performance can be impacted by a number of factors, such as its location on your site, your user base, and how your widget is presented visually. Following the guidelines below will help your widget achieve its best performance, whether your goal is earning revenue or increasing engagement.

Keep styles compact and images large. In most cases, we recommend using or starting with the “Clean” template provided under our “Responsive” widgets. Most sites receive the best performance from our 3×3 desktop/tablet layout when placed below the main content and 1 column on mobile.

Don’t cut off headlines. On each widget’s settings page, you can choose whether to truncate the headline length if it gets too long, but we encourage you to allow the full headline for clarity. All of our headlines are manually reviewed to ensure that they don’t run too long.

Don’t limit ad content. You may notice certain content appears repeatedly or, in the case of sponsored content, that you don’t think will appeal to your audience. The Content.ad widget learns what content your audience interacts with and shows the most successful content more often. Try not to limit your content rating or request a different mix of content for this reason.

Place your widget in a highly visible location. The best place for the widget is usually directly beneath your page’s main content. When placing the widget on a home page or a site with a non-standard layout, be sure to keep it as high on the page as possible so users will see it without scrolling down too far.

Make sure it looks good on mobile devices. Many of your users may be viewing your site on their phone. Images that span the whole width receive more clicks. Use the 1 Column option for responsive widgets or make separate mobile widgets for your site.

Add an exit pop. A pop-up widget will appear when your user mouses over the top of the browser window as if to leave your site. For mobile, use the Mobile Slider template.

Test your sponsored content mix. When showing both internal and sponsored content, try increasing the amount of sponsored content that appears in your widget to see the effect on your users’ behavior. Also, consider mixing your sponsored content in with your internal content rather than showing all internal content first.

Give it time. The widget may perform differently from day to day for a number of reasons, especially on smaller sites. We recommend letting your widget run on your site for at least a week before evaluating how it performs for you.

These guidelines are a result of extensive analysis and testing across many different of sites, but please remember that every site and its users are different, so your results may vary.